Diego Della Valle
Lapresse
Piazza Affari irrelevant, everyone leaves it. The latest sad case of Tod’s
Tod’san Italian group with prestigious brands in the fashion sector, presented itself at the stock market listing with important plans for expansion and valorisation of the group. His “patron” Of the valley he is a highly visible entrepreneur, much loved by radical chic circles, politically correct, always on the front line with meritorious operations (such as the renovation of the Colosseumfunds allocated for environmental disasters, etc.).
Just over a year ago he attempted to remove Tod’s from the Milan stock exchange (“delisting”) but the operation of op (public takeover bid) failed for the simple reason that what was offered was not considered appropriate to the value of the company. A few months ago though Of the valley he tried again by offering €43 per share instead of €40 last time, and this time he succeeded in exceeding the 90% threshold, so Tod’s is about to leave the stock exchange.
However, the substance does not change in terms of value, we are still talking about a valuation of the company far below its real value (and the prospects announced during the listing many years before). But the most disconcerting thing is that this time the failure of the operation was not foreseen because, according to the mechanism of the operation, if the indicated threshold was not reached, a merger with the vehicle of the operation which is not listed was envisaged, therefore the withdrawal would in fact have been mandatory if one did not want to hold totally illiquid securities.
Therefore the investor who held the securities at values well above €43 did not have the possibility of remaining a shareholder while waiting for an adequate valuation of the company. We remember that Tod’s in the over 20 years of bag after reaching peaks of €100 it returned to almost the same starting prices, thus spectacularly failing to achieve the group’s valorisation objective.
What has happened in recent years? As expected, a company with a free float (i.e. the share of the company that was proposed to shareholders during the listing phase) of around 25% was easily manageable and maneuverable by majority shareholders. So, aside from the nice words about the Made in Italy during the listing, it was already too timid an operation by an entrepreneurial class that trusts the market only as long as it can control it.
Today many small shareholders have had to capitalize a loss without alternatives, while Of the valley with the French partners of Lvmh (connected to the vehicle that made the takeover bid) will regain total control of the company by spending a few pennies and “cashing in” on the probable value of the company in the coming years. The stock market is a train from which one gets on and off for interest, however it would be advisable to at least know the destination, there remains a bitter taste in the mouth for an operation which overall, despite the respected formalisms, simply highlights the limits of our family capitalism and it is no coincidence that for some years there has been a rush to delist listed companies so as not to have constraints to respect.
And it won’t be a coincidence that ours Milan stock exchange it is now a totally irrelevant pizza (with a ratio to GDP among the lowest in Europe) populated almost only by banks, public companies or who manage services under concession, where there is very little that is industrial. On the stock market, to stay on the luxury side, even companies like Geox And Ferragamo (both at lows), while the forward-looking one is doing well Cuccinelli.
In the meantime, the Government is inventing a tool, through CDP, to invest in highly undervalued companies. It will probably be a failure, this sort of populist state aid will be yet another attempt to uselessly control the market that runs faster than initiatives that wink at some entrepreneur who is not very entrepreneurial (but a voter).
And let’s not feel too sorry for ourselves if investors then prefer other markets where companies are contestable and not a merry-go-round on which to try a few breezes and then walk away. In the meantime, hello Tod’s, we won’t miss you. He then makes the statement smile Of the valley after the success of the initiative, outlining a rosy future outside the stock market… making us understand how certain enlightened entrepreneurs consider the capital market. Ps/ At least Della Valle gives a pair of boots to his loyal (but disgruntled) shareholders!
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